Your company has insight, expertise and wisdom helpful to your customers, audience and people just becoming aware of you. Why aren’t you sharing it?

Quotes from the very famous and very inspirational are not the only type of content people can emotionally connect with. What about all the tips, hints, and expertise your company has learned along the way? Why not share your own custom quotes?

How Do I Know If My Business Has Custom Quotes?

Think of quotes as content. You probably have generated a lot of excellent material and just don’t see it as being parsed into quotable nuggets of wisdom in 140 characters.

Start by looking at your website copy and at your collateral (whitepapers, ebooks, brochures, newsletters, slide decks, product information, FAQ, data sheets). Think about some of the information taught in your training sessions or webinars. As long as it is OK to share publicly, this type of content could be ideal for you to use as your own custom quotes.

Examples of Custom Quotes

When you’re thinking of custom quotes, take the pressure off. This doesn’t mean it has to be something profound said by your founder, unless of course you have those kinds of quotes. Think of custom quotes as tips and evergreen content that can help year-round. Here are some examples:

Automobile companies: find tips on extending gas mileage, keeping the paint shiny, and ensuring the Bluetooth connects to my device when I get in the car.

Cosmetics companies: share tips on moisturizer, prolonging the life of my nail polish top coat and making my eye shadow last all day.

Personal financial companies: share your tips on how to save a little more each week, how to start to understand the stock market, what to know about retirement savings.

What is Timeless Content?

The ideas listed are timeless. Meaning that whether they appear in your company Twitter feed today or next month, they are still relevant, helpful and applicable. This type of content is the kind that can cycle out repeatedly.

Help for Your Social Media Team

When your timeless custom quotes are set to appear from your Twitter account continuously, this frees up your social media team to do what they do best. They can community manage, listen, respond, create timely content and ensure your company is responding and interacting with your audience.

Nimble Quotes has a Custom Content subscription where your quotes/tips/hints that are automatically tweeted from your Twitter account are your own custom quotes. Nobody else can have access to them. Check it out here. If you’re interested in trying Nimble Quotes, register for our free 30-day trial. Not ready? Sign up for our newsletter instead.

People ask me all the time, “Jen, how on earth do I start conversations on Twitter?”

They ask, “How do I ‘engage’ on Twitter?”

We hear these words and we all know what conversations are. We know what engaging conversations are…but how do you really have conversations on Twitter?

Twitter moves fast and it can be daunting. Perhaps the best way is with an example in real life.

Conversations in Real Life

What if an in-person conversation, one in real life, went like this: First I said “This quote about books is interesting.” Then my colleague said, “Yes it is, I really like this quote.” Then I said, “This quote reminds me that reading is so important. What are you reading right now?” Then she told me. And then I responded with what I was reading this month.

That seems like a normal conversation, started with the question, what are you reading now?

Imagine if the authors of the books we mentioned we were reading were able to jump into the conversation and thank us for reading their books? Wouldn’t that be kind of cool too?

Real-Life Conversations on Twitter

That is just what happened on Twitter. Hopefully this step-by-step explanation of an actual Twitter conversation, about actual things, can help you with starting your own conversations with your own network on Twitter.

First, I had a quote go out in my Twitter feed:

Second, upon notification that my tweet was favorited and retweeted, I looked to see who that was…it was Hilary!

So I thanked her for re-tweeting the quote, and as the quote was about reading, I asked her what she was reading:

She mentioned two books and used one of the the author’s Twitter handles in the conversation:

One of the authors of the books she mentioned favorited the Tweet mentioning him AND replied:

Now it was my turn to respond with what I was reading.

What I did was I wrote in text which books I was reading, mentioned the authors’ names AND took a picture of the two books on my coffee table.

Both authors I mentioned got involved in the conversation; Grant Cardone gave it a RT with a comment that told me to “Be10X Awesome”(referencing the topic of his book).

And Hilary and Nir Eyal (the other author mentioned) favorited the tweet.

So there was our conversation on Twitter.

Here are some gems that came out of it:

This interaction has started to strengthen our relationship

We know a little more about each other

We got the thrill of having the authors interact with us too

I know what Hillary is reading – I can keep it in my mind for our future conversations (on Twitter, in real life, on email, over the phone).

And I learned a little more about one of my contacts that I didn’t know previously. It’s great to know another person who is an active reader. This is an example of a first step to starting conversations and building relationships with your network. Try it today with your audience on Twitter.

The quote that started this conversation on Twitter came from Nimble Quotes. Try it today for 30-days free. Wondering what Nimble quotes looks like on a live Twitter account? Check out Nimble Quotes in action on these Twitter accounts: @jenkellyjen or @newimarketing.

You know that great feeling you get when you trust that someone has your back? Think of a family member or a good friend you’ve had for years – they have your back and would never let you down. Wouldn’t it be great if a company offered a service that made you feel the same way? Look no further than Nimble Quotes. Our Content Watch service definitely has your back.

What is Content Watch?

We’ve all heard scandals on the news. Famous, quotable people can sometimes get themselves into hot water, and when that happens, a once positive quote of theirs may now be viewed negatively.

With Nimble Quotes’ Content Watch service, you don’t have to fear that a negative quote will pop up on your Twitter feed. We research every author and diligently keep up with the news, all in an effort to ensure that the quotes appearing on your Twitter feed are high-quality and uncontroversial.

If one of the authors we have in our quote database becomes the centre of a scandal, we immediately pull all of their quotes from our database. You can rest easy knowing that their quotes are no longer in circulation, and will not appear on your feed.

Content Insurance

Think of our Content Watch service as insurance for your Twitter feed – Nimble Quotes will always make sure that you look good. We keep a constant watch on our quotes and authors, so you don’t have to face the embarrassment of a quote gone wrong.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell what content is good to post, and what content wouldn’t be good to post. Nimble Quotes takes care of that for you, making sure that each quote is high-quality, non-partisan, and free of questionable or offensive material.

Each author has been researched and approved as a respectable source, free of negative press at the time they’re included in the database. But we’re all human and can make mistakes. We’re not judging the mistakes that cause these news scandals. We just don’t want to be part of it nor have our customers exposed to it either.

Twitter Content

Nimble Quotes isn’t a RSS feed gathering quotes from around the web, and then automatically sending them out to your Twitter account. No way!

Nimble Quotes is an example of content as a service.

And this content, these wonderful quotes, have been painstakingly gathered, curated, vetted, copyedited and sorted into categories to give you the most options to engage with your audience. All while ensuring you feel like we’ve got your back. ‘Cause we do.

Try Us Out!

If you’d like to try Nimble Quotes for yourself, sign up for our 30-day free trial! You’ll get 1-8 quotes per day (protected under our Content Watch service, of course) along with a choice of other personalized settings. Click here to get started. Not ready? Sign up for our newsletter instead.

Would you like to get more business leads? Can this really be done through Twitter? Before someone can become a lead, you need to open up the dialogue and start a conversation. Just how can Twitter help you out with that?

Open the Door for Conversation

One way to start a conversation with your Twitter followers is through the use of quotes. Quotes bring people together, stirring them to think about and discuss a like subject. Tweeting an inspiring quote is a friendly ice-breaker; it’s another way to start a conversation than just saying a simple hello. Think of it as a warm handshake – you’re drawing your followers into an inviting, potentially thought-provoking conversation that has nothing to do with work. We can get to the work part; first let’s start a conversation.

This use of quotes can lead to responses on Twitter like:

Favourites

Re-tweets

More followers

Direct messages

These responses are exactly what you’re after. But once you get a response like this, how exactly do you start a conversation with the person?

Now It’s Your Turn

Let’s see how this could work. One of your followers has re-tweeted a quote you’ve posted on Twitter – that’s great! What do you do next? We’ve got a few suggestions to help you strike up a conversation:

If you’re particularly drawn to the quote in question, let your follower know. Tell them it’s one of the quotes you like best (if it is). Explain to them why it’s one of your favourites.

Ask your follower why they’re drawn to that particular quote – for what reason does it resonate with them?

Tell your follower that it’s a great quote to start or end the day with, depending on what time the quote popped up on your feed. Maybe it’s a great quote to start the weekend with.

You can also simply thank your follower for liking or re-tweeting the quote. Show them your appreciation.

Give some of these ideas a try. Do you have other ways to start conversations on Twitter with your audience? Let us know.

Quotes are the Base

However you decide to begin the conversation with your audience, quotes can be an effective base for getting a great first response. Nimble Quotes would love to help you out with this – try out our 30-day free trial! You’ll get 1-8 quotes per day from a choice of 10+ categories and the ability to add your own hashtags. Click here to learn more. Not ready? Sign up for our newsletter instead or follow @jenkellyjen to see Nimble Quotes in action on a Twitter account.

So you’ve decided to start tweeting thought-provoking quotes from your Twitter account. Great decision. But how do you get your followers to stop and really think about the quotes you’ve tweeted? How do you start conversations on Twitter? That’s where engagement hooks come in.

“Engagement Hooks” – What Are They?

At Nimble Quotes, we’ve created a little something called an “engagement hook”. It’s a type of conversation starter for your quote – an intriguing statement or a thought-provoking question to lead into the quote. We include these to help our users connect and get involved in the Twitter conversation.

Using Engagement Hooks to Start Conversations on Twitter

The engagement hook is a way to get people to really think about the quote that you’re tweeting. An enthusiastic exclamation can get people excited about what the quote has to say. It can inspire them to action. A reflective question can make them consider what meaning the quote holds for them; how they may apply this quote in their own life. Whatever form it comes in, the engagement hook is meant to help you start conversations on Twitter.

Engagement hooks are what make our quotes different from other quotes on Twitter. When you sign up with Nimble Quotes, you don’t just get a slew of quotable sayings – you get meaningful quotes with thoughtful, reflective engagement hooks attached to them.

Where Do We Get Engagement Hooks?

Our writers and editors think about how each individual quote can be used to spark a conversation with your Twitter followers, interpreting what that quote means. They then write a meaningful engagement hook, getting right to the heart of the quote.

We put all of this thought into the engagement hooks because we want to help our users participate in the conversation, break the ice with their followers. The curated, high-quality quotes are already a helpful addition to your Twitter account; the engagement hook gives each quote a boost to start an interaction.

Start Today

So if you’d like to add this quality content to your Twitter account try out the Nimble Quotes’ 30-day free trial! You’ll get 1-8 quotes (yes, with engagement hooks) per day as well as a choice of other personalized settings. Click here to get started. Not ready? Sign up for the Nimble Quotes newsletter instead.